Page 26 of The Player

And then, the lights shut off, drowning us once again in darkness.

“I guess the Twatmaster wants us to sleep,” I whispered into the darkness. A darkness that was so black it felt like you’d been snatched away from this world and plunged into something otherworldly. A place where your eyes were robbed of sight. “Could’ve waited till we’d finished our meal, the ignorant fucker.”

“How the fuck are we supposed to sleep after everything that’s happened to us?” Bee whispered back. “There’s too much adrenaline in my system. I feel like shit, and I ache all over. The last thing I’ll ever do in this place is sleep.”

“Maybe. I know I won’t sleep,” I told her, reaching forward blindly and pulling her down on the mattress next to me. “But you might. I’ll watch over you. Don’t worry. Nothing’s going to happen to you. Not while I’m here.”

“I’m not joking, Will. I’m not sleeping.” I could feel how rigid her body was as she lay next to me.

“Then lie here with me and talk to me.” I sighed. “You don’t have to do anything else. Just talk.”

ChapterEleven

BRYONY

Just talk.

That’s what he said.

I felt like my throat was laced with razor blades and my mind was about to explode, but he wanted to talk.

“We could be bludgeoned to death at any minute, and you just want to talk?”

I didn’t think I could string a thought together, let alone a sentence.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this life,” he mused, trying to pull me closer, then wriggling across to me when he realised I wasn’t budging. “It’s that you roll with the punches when they come. If you spend your time waiting for them, you’ll drive yourself crazy.”

“I’m already driving myself crazy. We were kidnapped, Will. Drugged and locked in a basement. We’ve got a madman videoing himself in a mask to taunt us. I think the punches are already landing pretty hard.”

“It could always get worse.”

“Gee, remind me not to come to you for a pep talk.”

“I’m an awesome hype man. And look what we have… food and drink. A place to piss and shit. A mattress. Trust me, compared to some of the places I’ve stayed, this is a fucking palace.”

“I won’t be rushing to Trip Advisor to grade it when I get out.”

“See, that’s the spirit.” He chuckled. “You saidwhen we get out. I like that positive thinking.”

There wasn’t much to feel optimistic about right now, but when he gave a low chuckle at my lame joke, my heart stuttered in my chest and a warmth that made me feel something radiated through me.

“I’ve landed at rock bottom and now I’m just digging through the rocks,” I went on.

“But you’re still digging.”

I lay silently, my mind struggling to comprehend what was going on. I didn’t know how all this was going to play out, but I knew for a fact it wouldn’t be good. It’d be gruesome, heart-breaking, and acknowledging that made my heart beat faster, the thump deafening in my ears.

“Tell me what you were like as a kid,” Will asked in the darkness.

I knew what he was doing. He was distracting me.

Could he hear that thumping too?

Was my heartbeat affecting him as much as it was affecting me?

“I don’t think a trip down memory lane is going to help right now.” I tried to roll away, curl into a ball so I could drown in the demons tapping away at my skull, begging to be let into my brain.

“It might help a little, if it takes your mind off where we are.”